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About Jim:

Jim Crowley began his flat racing career as an amateur before switching to National Hunt racing, where he landed approximately 300 winners. He then returned to the flat to ride for sister-in-law Amanda Perrett. After years of hard work, Jim was finally rewarded when we won the 2016 Stobart Flat Jockey Championship with an incredible 148 winners. That was followed by a lucrative retained partnership with leading owner Sheikh Hamdan al-Maktoum, for whom he is the no.1 jockey. Now, the reigning Champion Jockey gives you an exclusive insight into all of his big rides for the 2017 season, courtesy of Coral.

I’m really looking forward to riding this fella. He’s a very nice horse and you can make a few excuses for him last time.

He ran in the Steward’s Cup, and started a well-backed favourite, but they all went to the far side and he never got involved at all in the race. Then he ran at Newbury on very testing ground finishing behind Massaat in the Hungerford Stakes.

However, if you look back he was a Listed winner last year. I’ve always thought he was a very good horse.

I rode him as a two-year-old, winning twice, and I rode him in the Racing Post Trophy. He finished sixth that day, and didn’t stay, but he was one of the last off-the-bridle, and the ground would have been too soft for him too. I held him in very high regard back then.

Hopefully we won’t get too much more rain. Seven furlongs looks like his best trip and I’m hopeful of a really good run. He’s a super horse, trained by an absolute genius in David Elsworth.

I’ve been down and ridden work on Crystal Ocean and he’s a really good horse.

I’m really looking forward to riding him. I’m hoping Doncaster can avoid any more rain. He’s a good moving horse, and even though he has handled soft before, he’s moves like a good ground horse.

It’s a very good St Leger. The first five in the betting have all got very good chance. Capri was 5th in the Derby and then won the Irish Derby, so he’s got the best form on offer, but my horse is trained by a genius and I think he’ll go very close.

After he was placed in the Dante everyone was screaming that he should run at Epsom in the Derby but Sir Michael Stoute knows best and wanted to take a bit more time with him. Hopefully that will pay off in the St Leger.

I’m drawn one and even over this kind of trip it does give you something to think about. You can get trapped in a pocket from that stall but he’s a good horse, and travels well in his races, so he should be able to work his way smoothly through the field.

I was second in the race on Talent in 2013 so I feel like I have a bit of unfinished business in the race. It would be amazing to go one better.

Tawdeea is 6lbs lower than when he won at Leicester in October. I always enjoy riding for David O’Meara. He’s a very shrewd trainer and so we should have a good chance.

Prix Du Moulin – Massaat

I was pleased Massaat ran well in the Prix Du Moulin last Sunday but I was also disappointed he didn’t win. I expected him to run a big race, and he did I suppose, but he probably could have done with softer ground just to take the speed off some of the others.

Nonetheless he has very few miles on the clock and there are still some very nice races to be won with him. I think he will probably go to the QEII Stakes on Champions Day.

A stronger pace will suit him, and Ascot will be more to his liking than Chantilly. He’ll have to improve a lot more to go and beat Ribchester, but if it came up very soft it’s not impossible.